The Haps . . . .

My semester of classwork has finally began so I’m beginning to get into the swing of things. Instead of teaching I’m supervising 13 student interns. It’s a lot of emails and paperwork but I don’t have to prepare for teaching a class. I do have to drive out to schools a couple of times a week.

I’ve also started my course load. Once again I have an all day Saturday class which meets every other week. This one going to be lots of work. I also have my first Anthropology course which also a Woman’s study course on gender and migration. I also began my research internship. I’m trying to hash out my questions before I begin my interviews.

I also just bought a new MacBook. I’ve been toying around with the idea for a long time especially since the new Merom processors are coming out at some point. But Intel says you can swap the processor out and upgrade the software. Hopefully. I could always keep waiting for the next update but I could use the laptop so I can make better use of my time. Especially being out on the road so much. Yesterday I drove about 100 miles and was gone most of the day with several hours down time. I could have used that time to type up work. So I bought the middle of the road MacBook and I’m maxing out the memory from newegg.com, getting a bluetooth mouse, a wireless router so I can work outside the house, and hopefully begin being more productive.

Now I will have more time to blog.

America's Got Talent... apparently not

Yes, we have been watching this awful show off and on this summer. Tonight they are revealing the million dollar winner. I am upstairs reading all y'all's blogs, and Scott is really upset because "rappin' granny" made it to the top five. It really bugs him that she has made it so far. I think that is actually the only reason why he still watches it... because he can't believe that she could go on.

Anyhow, if she wins I think that he will be real mad. Maybe it will keep the both of us from watching stupid reality shows...maybe.

Also, today was my first day of school. It went really well. That is just about all I have to say because I am tired. I am sure in the next few days I will fill in more details.

Right now, it really seemed more important to blog about rappin' granny.

These are the good things:

... about starting a new school that I am loving right now

1. If I am lost as far as what is going on, it is okay! Everybody else is just as lost and confused as I am, and we will figure it out together!
2. There are no"last year we..." because there are no expectations of what was done at this school last year, because it didn't exist.
3. The kids can't wait to come in their new school and check everything out.
4. The teachers can't wait to come in their new school and check everything out.
5. There aren't any remnants of crap left in cupboards from previous teachers. Everything you put in your room is YOUR stuff.
6. All teacher's editions, math manipulatives, and science equipment are brand new. Complete sets= happy teacher! :)
7. The technology is crazy amazing. We are getting Smartboards installed in every classroom. (in case you don't know what that is, you will have to google smart board. Sorry, I don't know how to post a link yet, speaking of technology!)

School starts Thursday. I think that I a may actually take some pictures of my classroom before the kids come. I have to say that I am amazed at how great it looks, not because of how I put it together necessarily, but of how the room was designed. I love it!

Back to work

The school passed inspection yesterday, and we were in today. Wow. It was so exciting to actually get to walk in the building. Everything was new, and though it still looked very much like a construction site, it is obvious that this place is going to be a beautiful school. We had meetings all day except for an hour and a half that we got to work in our rooms. My stuff was delivered from my old school into my new classroom at the new school by district movers, so when I walked in my classroom, my boxes were already there. Talk about spoiled. It was nice not to have to move all that stuff. Tomorrow we get to spend just about the entire day putting together classrooms, which I am really looking forward to.

Now... the bad part. I still can't get over how I can be so excited, yet cry so much and be upset about leaving Emily. There were many times this summer when I second-guessed my ability to be a stay-at-home mom. However, leaving her was so hard today. Scott did it actually because I had to be at school so early, and I knew if there was a problem (Emily crying as I tried to leave or something) that I would be late. So I got up early and worked out at the gym, got ready there and drove straight to school. And yes, I called Scott to check in on how their morning was going. And yes, after I hung up the phone I cried the rest of the way to school. Emily was a champ, and just saw it as a big play day with her friends. She had a little trouble at nap time, but other than that, she was fine. And I got to be the one who picked her up, so she greeted me by yelling "mommy mommy!" which made me cry again. Ughh. I know this will get easier. But right now I am having a bit of a time getting over it.

Say a prayer please

I know I have told a lot of you about the new school that I will be teaching at this year. Well tomorrow morning is our first day back for meetings and such, and next Thursday (8/17) the kids come back.

The problem is that our school has not passed inspection. None of the teachers have been allowed inside ever, and our stuff is in storage at another elementary school where we can't get to it. It failed inspection 7/31 and this morning at 9 am the government inspector is scheduled to come again to come. Last time I don't even think the sewer lines had been finished, but this time I hear there is a problem with the fire alarm, something the electrician was working hard to finish.

Anyhow, just pray that it will be done, and the inspection will go well. I really don't feel like teaching fourth grade out of my garage! Just kidding. But in all seriousness, our district doesn't have a back-up plan lined up in case the school fails inspection again. Hmmm. Makes me nervous.

So that is all that is on my mind this morning. That and the fact that starting tomorrow morning I will be dropping Emily off at Miss Sheri's house all day, and I will probably cry a bit. It amazes me how much I can love my job so much and look forward to going back, but at the same time I absolutely dread being away from Em all day long. Weird how those two things can simultaneously exists in my heart at the same time.

Let me OUT!

Of the house please! It has been so hot the past week that Emily hasn't been outside to play much, and she is getting sick of her toys. So finally today it was supposed to cool down a bit, which it did, but not enough. We decided maybe this evening after dinner we would all go out and play in the yard and let Emily escape the walls of our home.

Well then the storm moved in. I swear the lightening and thunder and rain hasn't stopped since two thirty. This was also the time when Emily got put down for her afternoon nap. Fifteen minutes into napping and she is woken up by the loud thunder. Nice. After the third time of putting her back down, Scott gave up. Now we have Miss Cranky Pants.

Scott is so bored he is actually considering taking us to the mall so I can find a new top for a skirt I got. He must be desperate. I am trying desperately to get some school planning done, to no avail. I am just plum bored.

Oh well. Hope your Saturday isn't nearly as boring as ours.

Music for the seasons... yeah, I guess

Yeah, I don't really have a lot going on to talk about.

We came home from Bible study, put Emily to bed.
I finally remembered to plug in my ipod so it could charge the battery.
Oh, and I switched up the music (I have the shuffle, so it doesn't hold nearly the amount as y'alls, but it does the job)

Anyhow, that's basically it. I'm really excited to hit the gym tomorrow with my newly added J5 music on the shuffle to listen to while on the treadmill.

I haven't listened to them in a bit, and I realized that all of their music reminds me of summers in Fresno. Why? I dunno. Maybe it was all those great times on the back porch with the music playing out the outside speakers. But I was really excited to listen to it. That and some Fat boy slim. Also reminds me of summers in Fresno. Weird how music does that.

Okay, and while on the subject, Radiohead and travis remind me of winter, especially winters in Fresno. That's Jenny's influence I guess. Anybody else have a band that does that to you?

**and yes, I purposely meant to b put y'all. And no, I never say it out loud.

School starts when??

I don't know if I have said much about this, but I am moving to a new school this year. And when I mean new, I mean, being built. I got the choice to go, and am very excited, good opportunity, great administration, new technology...blah blah.

That being said, yesterday was our official "inspection" day. We all hoped it would be completed in time, but every day that I drove by on the way to the gym, I thought, "there's no way." Maybe it was the sewer lines that hadn't been buried, or maybe it was the large piles of dirt in the front, or rather still maybe it was the parking lot that had yet to be paved and was still a dirt lot. But for some reason, it didn't pass inspection. I can't figure it out.

So... we teachers were all excited to get our keys to our classrooms early this morning because just about every other teacher in our district has their entire classroom ready by now. (we go back on the tenth, and have professional development all day every day until the kids come on the seventeenth.) We are all anxious. And we get the email that we can't yet. Nobody is allowed in until it passes inspection, and they are coming back to re-inspect on the ninth.

Great. That means that if it passes we have maybe that afternoon and the weekend to move our stuff in and prepare for school to start.

I guess this is all the excitement that comes with starting a new school, but I am a little bummed. I am going to let this be the last that I complain about it though, because I am sure that it will be alright... as long as it is ready when the kids come in on the seventeenth. Please pray.

I'm loosing my mind

Today Scott has had a terrible headache that started early this morning, and has pretty much debilitated him all afternoon. Once we got home from church, he needed to lay down. This was fine of course, but it left me to deal with Emily the Ornery all afternoon by myself.

Let's just say that out of all the days for her to learn how to open the fridge, this was the one she picked. Great.

Normally Emily will play pretty well, and stay with one toy for a reasonably accurate time for a little one her age. Today, that is not the case. The child is everywhere, and into everything. She watched me sweep the floor, and just when my back was turned to grab the dust pan, she stood in the middle of my pile. I fluffed up and straightened up the couch cushions and pillows, only for her to realize that the cushions do in fact come off the couch, so she took them all off again. And today she remembered how to gargle her milk, only to get it all down her shirt an all over the carpet, and then toss her sippy cup over the fireplace screen. Wow.

I know that she is curious, and I hope she remains curious for her entire life, however, today her curiosity is driving me INSANE! Okay, thanks for the vent. She is now pounding on the bedroom door where Scott is desperately trying to nap to get rid of the headache.

Vagina Rejuvenation Surgery... huh?

Scott and I caught a bit of this on some news station, and I had to look up more about it on the web. Interesting. The news program was fairly vague about the actual procedure, and my curiosity was peeked.
I don't have a penis, so maybe I am out of line thinking that maybe I could understand the need for this, but is there really that big of a deal after the birth of a chid that a husband would subject his wife to this sort of surgery? The woman on the news program had five children, and was getting it done to improve her sex life with her husband. Hmmm.

What do you all think?

I think I planted too many tomatoes!

I am trying to find some information online about canning them, so maybe this fall and winter I won't have to buy stewed tomatoes. Until then, I think that we will be giving more to our neighbors, who I think are just as sick of them as we are going to be.

This picture is from this evening. Emily and I picked them all tonight, and there are many more that will be ready tomorrow and the next day. Emily loves to pick them, and I think that she finally figured out you only picked the red ones.

I know Adam will appreciate this

Yes, that is a lovely tomato. We were in the garden this afternoon and when I turned to find Emily, she had picked a tomato and starting eating it like an apple. So she went back to her lawn chair and enjoyed it, where I took this picture.
And again at dinner she saw the tomatoes and made her "Mmmmmm" sound, so we gave her another whole one. She ate the whole thing. Wouldn't eat her ice cream from Chic Filet at lunch, but will eat an entire tomato. Funny kid.

Scott's going to kill me... mwhahahaha

Scott has put in so much work into our backyard, it is crazy. It really looks like a different backyard. And there are constantly things that need to be fixed around the house. I have these really cute stickers that I bought of power tools, and I have a vellum quote book that contains a page that says, "isn't it nice to have a man around the house?" I thought, wouldn't it be great to do a page for our family album with different pictures of Scott doing work around the house?

That is when I started taking pictures of him doing odd jobs around the house like tightening cabinet screws, building shelves in the garage, or whatever.

I think I really annoyed him Sunday afternoon when I brought the camera out while he was mowing the lawn in the ninety-five degree heat with 90% humidity. The first picture describes that quite well. Then...




Isn't this better? Nothing says, "Get that camera out of here" better than this fat fake smile.

What to do with

So this evening I came home from my small group bible study feeling very frustrated and a little annoyed. I have this problem with not being able to help myself from saying when I disagree with something. This does not work well in my bible study where one member frequently tells the rest of us what is right.

I have a big problem with these absolutes, often because I don't necessarily agree with them, but sometimes even when I do agree, I feel that they AREN'T absolutes, but merely his interpretation of what is being read. At what point does a verse in the bible go from an absolute truth from an interpretation? Yes, the part about Jesus dying to pay for our sins... that would be an absolute. But when he says, "it is finished" before he dies on the cross... I thought that was a phrase of the time used to describe a payment in full, thus his death for our debt. Tonight I was told that this phrase "it is finished" has to do with God's plan for us being laid out in entirety.

Ughh. Not that I necessarily want to debate what this phrase specifically means, but I am annoyed that my bible study has become this place where somebody feels they understand exactly what these passages all say, and that I must be wrong. (or whoever disagrees with this person, though nobody else voices any disagreement.) This is the bigger issue. The above was simply a "for instance" from this evening. There have also been other "absolutes" about word meaning and other things that I find trivial to the purpose of our bible study.

Also, being the reading teacher that I am (and being married to Scott) I totally believe that there is a transactional process that occurs between any passage and a reader. This occurring with the Bible as well. I think that maybe one of the major disagreements between me and him (other person) is that it doesn't seem that he can entertain the idea of multiple interpretations of the same passage. Though I think there needs to be a point in which some truths are inarguable. But again, what is that point? What is left for the Holy Spirit to intercede and apply as needed? I don't know.

And finally, the big question: What do I do next? I really would like to take the easy road and just excuse myself from attendance, and find one of the many other studies in my church to attend. But I don't think this is exactly the right solution, at least not without some sort of explanation of why I won't be coming anymore. I do know that it isn't a good idea for me to go next week because I don't like the way that I feel about what is said, and I leave feeling frustrated. And I know that it won't work to sit back and absorb, never contributing to the conversation in case it means disagreeing, or simply asking a questions for clarification.

I can't believe how much I am bugged by this.

Suggestions? Ideas about what is an absolute, and what is left for question? Or maybe there is a right and wrong to every passage, and I just need to figure them out one at a time? Thoughts?

Crash and Burn

I'm sure this is the first of many more falls to come. Most kids have skinned or scraped knees to show for their first fall. Not our kid. She used her face. Emily was at a picnic or my softball team and she was coming down a step out of a gazebo onto the sidewalk. She isn't that great with steps in general, but I thought she could handle one step down. She was holding a ball, so when she fell she didn't let go of the ball to brace herself with her hands. Thus, we have the scraped face.

Now I must say that I was quite proud of Emily for how tough she was. She cried that "late reaction" type of cry for a moment, and then she was more concerned with finding her ball than anything else. We took her home and cleaned her all up, and thought about giving her some motrin before bed to make her feel more comfortable. We decided against it because she seemed to be fine.

She still doesn't seem to notice that there is anything wrong, so nobody show her a mirror!

Great Trip

Scott had yesterday off, so we went to Charleston for an overnighter. Yes, the hotel I booked once again confirms that I am cheap, and choose bad hotels. But other than that, we had a good time.

We decided not to go on the ghost tour (too late with Em) but we did go on a 2 hr. Revolutionary War walk around Charleston's Historic District. Awesome! Scott, Emily and I were the only ones signed up, so we had the very knowledgeable guide to ourselves. I learned a lot, and he even gave me his business card so that this year when I teach the Revolutionary war to my fourth graders, they can email him with questions. Fabulous! I think that Scott's love for history is really rubbing off on me. Poor Emily doesn't have a chance.

After some great food and a rest at the hotel, we were back down to Market street to go through the street vendors and wander the streets checking out old churches and graveyards. Another great dinner, some much to rich chocolate, and we went to bed.

This morning we went back to the market, had some coffee, and then went to visit Folly Beach on Folly Island. This is a place I really wanted to check out to see about a possible vacation rental with friends or family next summer. Great place. The houses sit right on the water's edge and are all built on what seem to be stilts, so the house sits a good thirty or more feet above ground, leaving the underneath to be an open garage for cars to park under. Different.

Add a visit to a plantation, and train around some swamp areas to see some alligators, and we had a marvelous trip. Seriously, people need to come visit us soon. I am finding there is a lot of cool stuff to see.

I finally did it

I raised my voice to somebody else's kid. I always knew that this was going to happen. I know that somebody else will one day raise their voice to Emily as well. But for some reason I am okay with that, but I have a hard time doing that with another kid. I guess if my child was misbehaving I would want somebody to stop her. However, some parents don't feel the same way. Sticky situation.

... back to today. We were at a play group with a lot of really great moms and kids. Emily was playing, and two different times she started screaming and when I looked she was at tug-of-war with this other child. I couldn't tell who had the toy first (though from prior experiences with the little boy I guessed probably Emily had it first.) but I gave the toy back to the boy, and gave something else to Emily to play with. She was fine with that. The third time I saw him take it away from her and push her to the ground. I sprang out of my chair with my finger pointing and in a raised voice told him " You do NOT get to take other children's toys, and do NOT get to push other children down." Well, he started to cry.

I really don't feel bad about it like I thought I might. I feel like I need Emily to know that it is okay to tell a child to bug off if he is being rude or taking things. If I continue to "be nice" and give the toy to him and give her something else I am sending the message that she should always give in, and I want her to learn how to (politely) stick up for herself.

Now I must also say as I eluded to earlier that this child often has a problem with sharing. And sometimes it seems to me that he is only interested in the toys that others are already playing with. I watched him take things and start arguments with three other children besides Emily.

I just hope that his mom doesn't get angry with me, and the hard part about that is sticking to what I know was the right thing to do by telling him no. Ick. I hate confrontation, and when it involves children it can be especially hairy.

The day ended well

Today started out kind of bad. Apparently there is something called adult on-set seafood allergies. Well, after eating grilled Tillapea last night for dinner, I found out all of the sudden I was allergic. I spent most of last night in the bathtub trying to relax my tense muscles and make the fever go away. So, this morning I am sure I wasn't the most pleasant person to be around.

However, I did have quite the highlight of my day when I sold the extra fridge in our garage. Why do we have a fridge in our garage? Well our realtor wrote it into the deal when we bought the house that they leave the fridge. Of course we brought ours, so we moved this one into the garage, thinking maybe I would use the freezer to store extra meats, and whatever. Scott always said this was a bad idea. He was right. After one month we unplugged it because it was empty, and just wasting electricity. And I have spent the past year trying not to hit it with my car when I pull it into the garage.

That said, I did sell it for $75. Then I went on-line to check out hotels for a possible stay in Charleston this weekend. Behold, I found a great deal with our Entertainment book (thanks to Scott's step-mom for that Christmas gift) for exactly $74.95. I was thrilled. Scott let me book the room, and now we are going for an over-night stay to the beach. We love Charleston. Maybe we can get Emily to sleep in her stroller one night and take one of those midnight tours of the church graveyards. Sounds fun!

I hope that everybody had a good fourth of July. Scott and I took Emily to the annual Lexington county peach festival. We saw the parade, and then we went through this craft booth area, and finally ended up with some wonderful peach ice cream. It was super hot, but a lot of fun. You wouldn't believe how many people came out for it. Emily thought the ice cream was fabulous!

This put a smile on my face

It amazes me how much Emily watches what we do. For instance, while we were at the Portela's a few weeks ago, Emily walked right over to Audrey's play kitchen, pulled out a pan put it on the stove, and then stirred with a spatula. Now that was not something that I had to teach her. She catches on to so much more than we give her credit.

Such an instance tonight. Emily and I always go into her room after bath time and we sit in her rocking chair cuddled under a blanket, and we read a story or two before bed. Well, tonight I guess things were a bit out of sorts since her bath came right after dinner (we gave her a popsicle... BIG MESS!!) so there was some play time after her bath that she normally doesn't have.

Emily decided she is going to rock in her chair with a book by herself. It was quite the system she had down!

She got many of her books and her blanket and put them in her chair.

Then she would climb in... still quite the task.

Then she would read each one, and drop it off the side of the chair each time saying "uh oh."

When all the books were on the floor, she would get down, and start the entire thing over again. This went on for about twenty minutes. The entire time I was snapping pictures from the hallway and giggling.